The FCC Archives sub-committee chaired by one Convenor, who is a member of the FCC board, members, invited experts and the FCC staff. The sub-committee meets on request to address issues related to the ongoing archiving of the club’s history.

Archives Sub-Committee Convenor:

Carsten SCHAEL (Correspondent Member Governor)

Current Archives Sub-Committee Members:

Vaudine England (Historian)

Don Brech (Archives Consultant)

Simon Chu (Archives Consultant)

Donations of historical documents and artefacts related to the club’s history by interested parties are welcome. For enquiries, please contact [email protected]

The FCC Wall Committee is made up of two Co-Convenors, who are members of the FCC board, members and the FCC staff. The Committee meets once a month and is tasked with reviewing and approving proposals for exhibitions on the Van Es Wall and displays on other walls of the club.

Current Wall Committee Co-Convenors:

Adam WHITE (Journalist Member Governor)

Christopher SLAUGHTER (Associate Member Governor)

Current Wall Committee Members:

Carsten Schael

Becky Gaunt

Nic Gaunt

Robin Moyer

Cammy Yiu

Proposals for exhibitions are welcome. Please send a selection of themed images with a brief description of the series and some biographical information to the FCC office at [email protected] (Contact person: Ms Joanne Chung).

FCC Professional Committee

The Professional Committee invites newsworthy speakers to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, as part of the club’s core role of providing a neutral venue for discussions of local and international events and trends. The talks take place in the FCC’s main dining room, usually over lunch and occasionally over dinner. The speaker typically gives initial remarks for 20 minutes and then takes questions for 20 minutes. The events are on the record, and videos of them go up on the club’s web page. A list of recent speakers includes Hong Kong’s third Chief Executive C.Y Leung, former chief secretary and career civil servant Anson Chan, president of Britain’s Supreme Court David Neuberger and tennis Grand Slam champion Francesca Schiavone. Other past speakers include the CEO of Li & Fung Bruce Rockowitz, British actor and comedian Michael Palin, Wild Swans author Jung Chang and more.

A list of recent and upcoming speakers can be found here: http://www.fcchk.org/speakers-past/

Aside from organizing guest speakers, the Professional Committee plans and produces evening documentary screenings, educational workshops, debates, speed-networking opportunities and events that benefit FCC members and provide opportunities for correspondents and journalists to grow professionally. For a full list of all club activities, please visit the FCC’s events calendar with web link: http://www.fcchk.org/events/calendar/

Current Professional Committee Conveners:

Eric WISHART
Keith RICHBURG

 

For guest speaker suggestions please contact events coordinator Sarah Graham at [email protected] or the club’s general manager Didier Saugy at [email protected].

Professional Contacts appear in every bi-monthly issue of The Correspondent. For more information email [email protected] or call +852 2511 1511.

The Correspondent lives on

It might surprise you to know that it wasn’t until 1987 that The Correspondent magazine began to appear regularly in its current format. Other issues had appeared from time to time in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s, but not on a regular basis. By the mid-80s it had been reduced to an eight-page newsletter that came out infrequently.

We have been only able to locate some surviving 1970s issues and one or two from the 1960s. Mind you, some of those issues were not dated inside or outside magazine, but given paper quality and style they probably date from the late-70s.

It was in 1987 that Club member Viswa Nathan came up with the idea of publishing a monthly glossy magazine that would be supported by advertising. Viswa made a go of it from the first issue. It’s not an easy business to find enough ads to cover the costs of producing the magazine, but these were boom days in Hong Kong and all the hongs had ad budgets for small-circulation magazines.

By the mid-1990s it became harder to get ads and it was no longer possible to take for granted ads from the hongs. The exception was the 50^th anniversary of the FCC in Hong Kong special issue (1999) which was fully supported by ads due to the hard work of editor Saul Lockhart. From that time the magazine became financed fully by the Club, with the occasional ad income as a supplement to the budget.

Many of the ads in that issue were from the media industry; including one gem (as you would expect) from The Economist, which read, “Congratulating the FCC on 50 years of intoxicating journalism”. Sadly, as the media industry struggles with the digital revolution and the consequent falling ad revenue and diffuse readership, budget for ads has dried up.

 

Digital age

Digital fallout also reaches The Correspondent from time to time as some argue that we don’t really need an expensive magazine when we can put it online. At some future time it may be online, however the demand for a magazine remains as the FCC’s November 2015 survey overwhelmingly shows.

During 2015 Club news and news features from The Correspondent plus website-only stories have appeared on the website. With the launch of the redesigned website in January 2016 there will be a greater an interaction between the website and the magazine which will enhance the effectiveness of both.

The combination produces the best from both worlds – as the likes of the FT, SCMP, New York Times, Monocle, The Economist and others are attempting, mostly successfully, to do. The publications that get this formula right will be the ones left standing.

Meanwhile, the magazine goes on as it should. A correspondents’ club without one would be a strange beast.

An integral part of the magazine is the production house that makes it all possible. Since the late 80s, production has been in the hands of Viswa Nathan, Mike Bishara, Firstline, Richard Cook at WordAsia and Terry and Aira Duckham at Asiapix. In fact, Asiapix, through two separate stints has the longest connection to the magazine,

The Communications Committee oversees the magazine, website and other publications usually in a very hands-on way.

Saul Lockhart was editor of the magazine for about four years until he left Hong Kong in 2002. Other editors who served for varying lengths of time include Simon Twiston-Davies, Peter Cordingly, Karl Wilson, Diane Stormont, Richard Cook and Paul Bayfield.

If you want to catch up with past issues of the magazine please refer to the FCC’s website.